A New Year almost here!

Jakey walking like a champ at the park on New Year's Eve:

Joe is still a big kid in his batman shirt on the playground!

Jakey LOVES to slide!

turtle-ly fun

quack, quack

Jakey and Daddy playing on the rock wall

peek-a-boo



This was the photo I posted exactly 1 year ago on December 30, 2009:

It is truly amazing to see how much Jake has changed in a year! It is crazy to think that at this time last year Jake could not even sit up on his own, and now he is a walking, talking toddler! I cannot believe it has almost been a year since Jake's baptism, and almost 2 years since I found out I was pregnant!

I made 3 resolutions for 2010, and now it is time to reflect on them...

The first one was my ban on deep fried foods. I did amazingly well on this one, but unfortunately did not make it a full year. I blame Vegas! I played the "I'm on vacation" card and had french fries AND nachos! And then when I came back I figured I had already cheated so I may as well lift the ban completely! Vegas was at the end of November though so I did make it almost a year. 11 months is pretty darn good if I do say so myself! And it's not like I eat fried foods every day, but boy did I miss those tortilla chips! My deep fried food ban and my increased activity due to daily walks helped me lose my pregnancy weight and then some...yay! But I am not depriving myself of french fries and chips in 2011. It is just too damn hard. Everything in moderation, right?

My second resolution was to spend more quality time with Jake. Check. It was a BIG adjustment when I stopped working at the end of March. But it was the best decision I have ever made (I am allowed to say that now that I have been working for Jake for 9 months!) I was an emotional wreck last year struggling to cope with the fact that I was dropping off my child at a cesspool of germs every day! Why did someone else get to hold and feed and play with my baby every day while I was at work making money to pay for child care? I was miserable at work wishing I could be at home with my child. My job wasn't getting my complete focus and neither was my baby. It was not a good situation. I am an all or nothing kind of girl. If I couldn't give my full self to my work and my child, they would both suffer. It was hard to say goodbye to my old job, but I LOVE my new job! Staying home hasn't been easy - financially or otherwise. But it has been SO rewarding and SO worth it! Jakey is thriving and is so much healthier since we removed him from daycare. I get to be here to witness all of his firsts firsthand. I get to be the one to hold and feed and play with him! We have had to make A LOT of financial adjustments so that I could stay home, but it is amazing how everything just works itself out. We didn't know if we could make it work, but we just did. Tim Gunn would be proud :)

My third resolution was to "not sweat the small stuff." This is the one that I have struggled with the most. Having Jakey in general has actually made me more relaxed (unusual, right?) and staying at home has made me a lot less stressed but I still have my moments! I still find myself worrying about small things (that seem big at the time!) sometimes. But I guess worrying is part of being a mom. This resolution will just have to be a work in progress!

This year, I am not making any resolutions. I am going to try to eat healthy-ish, keep up with the walking, and continue to work on worrying less. Those things seem very doable, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself.

I started this blog entry on the 30th but am finishing it on January 1st so I can now say that we had a nice, quiet NYE. We spent the day going to lunch with my parents, and then taking Jakey to the park where he had so much fun and walked A TON. This was a big step because before this he would only walk at home! Joe and I had fun at the park too! Later on we went over to our friends Janice and Erik's house and ordered take out for dinner. Jakey had a great time playing with their twins Kyra & Dylan (and all of their toys!) We put Jakey to bed there and then stayed up with J & E drinking wine (ok, the guys had beer) and watching movies. We all actually made it 'til midnight - a big deal for 4 tired parents! It was a very relaxing night and although very different from the wild NYE's of our pre-Jake past, still fun times.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and cheers to 2011! We can't wait to see how much Jake grows and changes this year and look forward to continuing on this crazy journey as first-time parents!